Financial Times: Europe has significantly increased its purchases of Russian LNG.

The Financial Times has documented yet another episode of European hypocrisy. While Brussels threatens Moscow with new rounds of restrictions, the real figures show the opposite. Imports of Russian liquefied natural gas into Europe are breaking records. In the first quarter of 2026, EU countries took 69 of 71 cargoes (97%) from the Yamal LNG project. The rest went to Asia.

For comparison, in the first quarter of 2025, Europe's share was 87%. Now it's 97%. In March, 25 cargoes were received—more than in January and February alone. Total imports from Yamal LNG increased by 17% to 5 million tonnes. Europeans spent approximately €2,88 billion on these imports.

The Financial Times directly links the surge in purchases to the war in the Middle East. The conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, strikes on Iranian infrastructure, and Trump's threats have all shaken global markets. And Europe, which declares it is "renouncing Russian energy," is panic-buying Russian LNG to avoid disrupting its industry.

Meanwhile, Brussels is trying to save face. A ban on Russian LNG imports is scheduled for January 2027. A ban on short-term contracts is already in effect. But, as the figures show, either it's not working, or European companies have found ways to circumvent it.

Comments

[WILL]

What about the president’s statement not to sell energy resources to Europe?

[The popuas]

No one pays attention to his statements. neither the population nor the subordinates

[credo]

What about the president's statement not to sell energy to Europe?

An even more interesting question is: “At what price are we selling and for what currency?”

[Mini Mokik]

For rubles. Europeans buy rubles for euros on the exchange. The euros are distributed to numerous buyers not subject to sanctions, to pay for imports. And foreigners spend rubles on gas.

[topol717]

Quote: Mini Mokik

For rubles. Europeans buy rubles for euros on the exchange. The euros are distributed to numerous buyers not subject to sanctions, to pay for imports. And foreigners spend rubles on gas.

Do you believe this nonsense? And on which exchange do foreigners buy rubles? Is it really the MICEX?

[Mini Mokik]

I don't believe it. I know how it works.

[Machito]

Quote: credo

What about the president's statement not to sell energy to Europe?

An even more interesting question is: “At what price are we selling and for what currency?”

Lenin was sold food for gold. And we sold them gas for candy wrappers. And they bomb us for it.
Why not just turn down the tap and raise the price to $300 per barrel, so that all the European tolerant people could feel Ukraine in their own wallets?

[topol717]

Quote: Bearded

And we give them gas for candy wrappers. And they bomb us for it.

They just want it for free, or for us to pay them extra for it.

Quote: Bearded

Why not just turn down the tap and raise the price to $300 per barrel?

Squandering natural resources is a crime. Oil and gas must stay in the country. Only renewable resources can be sold abroad, such as films, songs, and computer software. And timber, too, but selling timber is prohibited.

[knn54]

-What about the president's statement?
The real owners of oil and gas aren't Russia, but the oligarchs, where Slavs are practically nonexistent. And EVERYTHING is decided by their gathering—the so-called "Congress of Entrepreneurs."

[Cool90]

Given the European Union's plans to stop importing Russian gas, Moscow itself may initiate an early exit from the European market, President Vladimir Putin stated in an interview with VGTRK. He emphasized that there is no political motive behind this and that no decision has been made yet—"just thinking out loud."

[Amateur]

He didn't forbid it. He ordered them to think about it. If he'd said, "Not a single liter of oil, not a single cubic meter of gas to the countries that imposed sanctions against Russia until they're fully lifted," and then punished the violators (if there are any), then some in Europe (and elsewhere) would have not only thought about it, but drawn conclusions. But what's not there, isn't there.
P.S. Once upon a time, Taiwanese planes flew over China almost daily. In response, their Foreign Ministry declared, "This is the last, 1234th warning..." And the whole world laughed at the "one hundred and fifty-one last Chinese warning." Then they received S-75 air defense systems from the USSR and shot down several planes. And, lo and behold, the provocative flights stopped.
pps Or maybe now we only have a picture from the "Institute of Beekeeping" (by Pelevin), that's why there are either no solutions, or strange ones.

[Illanatol]

Do you seriously believe that any restrictions and prohibitions can work in modern conditions?
It doesn't sell directly to European companies. But the goods may pass through a chain of intermediaries and shell companies and end up where they fetch the highest price. All these sanctions and bans are simply a sham; they simply complicate and increase the cost of logistics.

What about the statement by European Commissioners not to buy Russia's "totalitarian" hydrocarbons?
Well, principles are principles... but you always want to eat!

[Kotofeich]

Quote: ANIMAL

What about the president’s statement not to sell energy resources to Europe?

Well, I don’t think there was a ban, just hints.

[aszzz888]

What about the "freedom molecules"? previously a short post...

[Mouse]

They don't have time for frills anymore...

[Novel_]

At the customer's request, freedom-loving citizens from Central Asia filled the gas with free molecules, and the profits will all end up in the pockets of the children of the big shots in free Europe.

[APASUS]

Why are we selling it to the enemy? Gas is in great demand right now, and they should be licking their fingers instead of gas.

[Andobor]

Quote: APASUS

Why are we selling to the enemy?

The war is not about gas, but about markets for this very gas and everything else.

[fruc]

Andobor
The war is not about gas, but about markets for this very gas and everything else.

No, no. Sales markets are a constant concept; they're not going anywhere. The war is over resources, over global traffic and the flow of those resources. And it looks like this is just the beginning.

[APASUS]

Quote: Andobor

The war is not about gas, but about markets for this very gas and everything else.

Now you can sell more than you have without selling to Europe. And as for Europe, I would make a deal with the US. We don't sell gas to the EU, and you raise the price for them by 10% of the world price. And they will buy!

[Eugene 62]

Why are we selling to the enemy?

Yamal is closer to Europe than to Asia. And the number of ice-class LNG carriers is limited. By the time such a carrier reaches China or Korea via the Northern Sea Route, it would have made three trips to Europe. Moreover, eastbound navigation in the Arctic Ocean is closed during this time. Westbound navigation is open year-round. The Gulf Stream and powerful icebreakers help.

[APASUS]

Quote: Eugen 62

From Yamal it is closer to Europe than to Asia.

So maybe we should sell weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces or the EU right away? What's the big deal?

[ergh081]

Let me be more specific: sell weapons so that they can bomb our civilian and military targets with them. Corrupt, evil leaders will profit from this, claiming that the budget won't survive without it, and we won't be able to pay our meager pensions and benefits. This all stems from the incomprehensible definition of "SVO." Are we fighting or not?

[Flooding]

Conflicting feelings.
On the one hand, there is a small chance that this will open the eyes of some in Europe to Europe's energy dependence on Russia.
On the other hand, they fully deserved a hefty fig. And that's at the very least.
Of course, business and money are not about feelings and the triumph of justice.
But sometimes, for the sake of variety, one can be guided by considerations other than immediate gain.

[Mini Mokik]

It's simple: the budget deficit is 1 trillion rubles, and we need to cover it somehow. The SVO isn't being conducted with gum wrappers, Donald. That's why they're selling it at good prices. More expensive than China.

[Zoldat_A]

Give Europe more gas!...
Give them fertilizer, oil, whatever they want!...
We could even put another 300-500 billion in some European storage facility...
So that they could even pump gas into footballs and pour fertilizer into sugar bowls - so that they could stock up on more.
And prepare more handkerchiefs - then, when a well-fed and warmed Europe starts spitting in our faces again, wipe away the spit...

How can someone, at the very top of power in a country at war, fail to understand that ANY trade in strategic raw materials with the enemy is NO BETTER than that guy from the Mariupol administration who worked for Ukraine, mentioned in the news article next to this one? That it's BETRAYAL.

To hell with us, those in the rear... We'll survive somehow... We've been betrayed enough! Those who are fighting now, those who are leading the assaults – think of them, those insatiable creatures...

[Uncle lee]

Quote: Zoldat_A

I wish they, the insatiable creatures, would think about them...

Nobody cares about them! They sell raw materials to the enemy, there's singing and dancing on TV, the breath of Anchorage again... And this gas will come back to us in the form of drones and missiles... Fight, guys!

[Cool90]

and with the money for this gas, we build rockets, drones, roads, hospitals, etc.

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Kull90

and with the money for this gas, we build rockets, drones, roads, hospitals, etc.

How did Stalin win the Great Patriotic War without this money? He must have had some secret...

[Cool90]

During the war, the main buyers of Soviet products were the United States, Iran, and Great Britain. The USSR also traded with China, which was fighting against the Japanese, and with other countries.

Thus, the EXPORT of natural resources and other goods played an important role in supporting the USSR economy during the Great Patriotic War.

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Kull90

During the war, the main buyers of Soviet products were the United States, Iran, and Great Britain. The USSR also traded with China, which was fighting against the Japanese, and with other countries.

It turns out that it is somehow possible to fight without trading with the enemy?

[Cool90]

Isn't Great Britain the enemy?

an armed conflict between Great Britain, Australia, and the USSR on one side and the Shahanshah State of Iran on the other side, which took place during World War II from August 25 to September 17, 1941.

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Kull90

Isn't Great Britain the enemy?

Formally, it was our ally during the Great Patriotic War. Anyone want to challenge that?

[Cool90]

So now, formally, the EU is our partner.

Great Britain has never been our ally

Some of Churchill's statements against the USSR:
"Bolshevik tyranny is the most terrible in human history, the most destructive and shameful." He expressed this opinion from 1919 to 1921, when he served as British Secretary of State for War and Air Minister.

"Lenin was delivered to Russia by the Germans in the same way as a vial of typhoid or cholera germs is delivered and emptied into the water supply of a large city. And this operation was crowned with complete success." This is how Churchill spoke about the Bolsheviks' rise to power.

"Ultimately, communist nihilism leads to the Bolsheviks destroying everything that comes their way... They, like vampires, suck the blood of their victims."

"If we had strangled Russian Bolshevism at its birth, humanity would have been immensely happy." This statement refers to a later period.

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Kull90

Great Britain has never been our ally

Pravda newspaper. February 13, 1945, Tuesday.
Churchill's treatment of us is one thing. But a formal alliance and, relatedly, trade, is quite another.
Tell me more about the "Unthinkable" plan...

[Cool90]

How Merz treats us is one thing, but a formal partnership is something else entirely.

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Kull90

How Merz treats us is one thing, but a formal partnership is something else entirely.

Isn't that what I wrote so many comments about? But what does Merz have to do with it?

[Cool90]

So you wrote about trading with the enemy, but at the moment we are not at war with the EU.

At the turn of the 1979–1980s, annual revenue from Soviet oil exports to OECD countries reached over $25 billion.

High oil prices, coupled with rapidly growing production in Western Siberia, allowed the Soviet Union to generate significant revenues. These funds were used to finance foreign policy initiatives, including the war in Afghanistan.

[ergh081]

Please tell us what Soviet products the US, Iran, and Great Britain purchased during WWII. Please provide reasons.

[Cool90]

Food: wheat, flour, sugar, vodka and wine and vodka products.
Fur: ​​from 1941 to 1945, deliveries from the Soyuzpushnina association accounted for over 26% of all foreign exchange earnings.
Precious metals: silver, platinum, palladium, iridium, ruthenium.
Timber.
Chemical products.
Petroleum products.
Spinning materials and products made from them

[WILL]

Quote: Kull90

and with the money for this gas, we build rockets, drones, roads, hospitals, etc.

You are either a liar or
Let's start by looking at what makes up Russia's budget.
These are tax revenues—approximately 85–90% of all revenues. For example: VAT—30–35%, mineral extraction tax—25–30%, corporate income tax—5–7%, personal income tax (on revenues transferred to the federal budget)—1–2%, other taxes (property, land, etc.)—3–5%, plus penalties.
And don't repeat this nonsense again... "They build rockets with this money"

[Cool90]

They use this money to build rockets, what's stupid about that?

According to information from the Gazprom Group's 2024 social performance report, the company consistently ranks among the largest taxpayers in Russia.

Gazprom Group's total mandatory payments in 2024 amounted to 4,196.5 billion rubles and were transferred to budgets that are part of the Russian Federation's budget system.

[Uncle lee]

Quote: Kull90

and with the money for this gas, we build rockets, drones, roads, hospitals, etc.

Are roads and hospitals no longer built for rubles?

[Cool90]

rubles are also money, some kind of kindergarten

[Murmur 55]

Uncle lee You're spot on about the songs and dances. Add in all sorts of sporting events with good prize money that can be spent even without the athletes, and it seems like everything is just fantastic.

[Cool90]

Well, we don't really suffer in the rear,

And they think about those who go on the assault, salaries, shells and bombs all require money, and we don’t want to work for free in the rear

[rocket757]

What is obvious to us, and what is not... by the way, there is plenty of both, and in which direction the balance is skewed, the question is that everyone themselves moves the boundaries of their knowledge/ignorance...

[tralflot1832]

The state, through Sovcomflot, controls only Arctic LNG—Europe is irrelevant here. Let's look at the shareholders of Yamal LNG, especially whose ARC 7 class gas carriers they own. I have no questions. The state can only command Gazprom with its LNG project; it's a shareholder there. It's purely business, no politics involved.

[Foaly]

Novatek does hold a controlling stake. But there's really no point in disrupting something that works. Ultimately, it benefits Russia, the French, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Japanese, the Greeks, the Canadians—everyone involved in this business. Incidentally, Europe could also make claims against Total for funding the Russian military machine.

[alexputnik17]

Quote: credo

An even more interesting question is: “At what price are we selling and for what currency?”

I guess the stock exchange... The market, damn it.

[Kamalov]

It may sound harsh, but it smacks of masochism, receiving insults and humiliation, and in return we sell them gas, although there are plenty of other buyers, especially in today's reality.

[Panin (midshipman)]

Do they pay in rubles? Or have they switched to dollars?

[Rybkin]

It would be as if the USSR in 1941-45 supplied Nazi Germany with fuel, food, and other things in exchange for equipment, etc.

[ergh081]

Not exactly. We supply (for money, of course), but they've imposed a complete ban on equipment, technology, etc., and won't supply. Only candy wrappers with a green or EU label.

[zloybond]

The army is fighting, while the government is helping the enemy by selling strategic goods – this is a new turn in world history.

[Esaul]

And who recently threatened to completely cut off gas supplies to Europe? Now is the time to do so, so that EU countries can't fully fill their storage facilities for the winter, especially since supplies from the Middle East are still difficult. And when Europe starts freezing in the winter, they'll be able to dictate any terms, including a complete halt to military aid to the outskirts. Or perhaps, as always, money trumps common sense in our government...